Today at around 1PM, Travis, my brother and I are going to be shoving our suitcases and a ton of road trip food into my Mom’s tiny red Ford Focus and then heading out on the road. Yes, we are driving all the way to Florida! We are going to split the drive up into two days. So we will be heading to St. Florence, South Carolina today, and then to Kissimmee, Florida tomorrow. We’ve rented a house out down in Florida along with my parents, and my Aunt, Uncle, and their four young girls. My cousins are going to Florida to go to Disney World, of course, but Travis & I have a different plan in store for our vacation. We plan on going to Epcot and attempting to do the “drink around the world” challenge, which Ashley gave me AWESOME tips for. We are also going to be hitting up Daytona Beach, and Universal Studios: Island of Adventures so Travis can see Harry Potter world. We’ve been debating what else we’d like to do while we are down there. We’ve gone back and forth with: swamp air boat rides, helicopter tours, ATV tours, Gatorland… etc. I also have about 7 mixed drink recipes that I’d like to try while we are down there. Don’t worry, no more “vodka attacks”.

Be back soon!

Posted on May 23, 2013 - 13 comments
 Filed Under: My Life

This is going to be ridiculously long, so if you don’t read it, I don’t blame you. This blog was meant to be about homes, diys, and little bits of my life, but sometimes it turns into something more. Sometimes I just need to vent a little bit, or talk about something serious going on in my life. This is one of those times, and if anything, this blog has helped me grow as a person. It has let me vent things, I’ve never really told anyone, and all of a sudden I’m telling a bunch of people that I’ve never met, but who are all so supportive and kind. ❤

I’ve been in a rutt lately with work and life in general. I know where I want to be, but I keep telling myself, I’ll get there, I just have to get thru today. But I don’t make any changes to my day to day, I just keep going with this image in my head of where I’ll be in five or ten years. And I also put things off, I’ll put it off until tomorrow, or next week, or next month. But yesterday something happened. Yesterday, I decided to look up my horoscope, which I do from time to time. (I’m a Pisces) I get daily emails of my horoscope that I read everyday, but I like reading the extended ones since they are usually dead on. Yesterday was one of those days where I decided to check up on what my extended one said.

It said, “Try to be more open to change in your life today. Because if you are, you could enjoy a wonderful last-minute adventure! If you get too stuck on following your schedule to the letter, you’ll miss out on some fun, spontaneous stuff. Good for you for wanting to cross things off of your list, but is there any harm in putting a few things off for the sake of a picnic, lunch with an unexpected visitor or an exciting business opportunity? Let yourself have a good time if you can — you deserve it!”

I read this right after making a long boring to-do list, of things to do when I got home from work. So I decided you know what, screw the list today, I’m going to go to the drug store, pick up some hair dye & grab a notebook while I’m at it since I’m out of notebooks at home and I really love writing things down. I then decided to be nosey and look at the horoscope for the next day (which would be today) and it had a section in it, that I want to forever live my life by:

I’m pretty sure I’m going to turn that quote into a print so I can hang it on my wall. It’s the first thing I wrote on the inside of my notebook cover too. I tend to forget about myself and focus on others most of the time, until someone or something comes along that forces me to look at myself. I’ll mention something about my health, and then I’ll never do anything about it until Travis demands that I go to a doctor, or I end up in the hospital over a “vodka attack” as Christine calls it, haha, and the emergency room doctor tells me that I should probably get something checked out as soon as I’m better. So then I do. This quote was one of those times. I need to make some changes in my life and in my lifestyle.

I’ve made a list of things I need to focus on everyday, and ways to just make life less stressful, because I stress about everything.

• Don’t sweat the small stuff
  Life is too short to stress about the small stuff. Brush it off, and get to living life. I sweat the small stuff 24/7 & I need to stop. So my wreath is not done, and there is a dirty dish in the sink and my pants need washed; life is flying by you, don’t worry about that small stuff. It will all get done eventually, and you won’t even remember that stuff a week from now. No need to worry when it’s not that big of a deal.
• Family & Friends are the most important thing in life
  Someone can be taken from your life in an instance, so cherish the time you spend with them and spend as much time as you can with your loved ones. Camping trips with my family are some of my best memories and moments in my life. Growing up with your cousins is one of the best gifts your parents, aunts & uncles can give you. Your cousins are your first best friends, don’t lose that as you get older, hang onto them & stick together.
• Surround yourself with beautiful things & people
  I cannot be in a bad mood when I’m surrounded by mason jars, flowers and amazing people. Someone once said, “Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful” You want to surround yourself with positive & kind people, you don’t want negative and nasty people in your life, that just brings you down, the same goes for things in your home. You don’t want something in your home that just makes you sad.
• Be Kind
  There are definitely a bunch of people out there who are cruel, judgmental and just down right mean. It blows my mind when I come across websites like Get off my Internets, how can you sit there and bash someone that you don’t even know, and why would you waste minutes of your life doing so. When your time comes to leave this world, do you really want to look back at your life and remember being so negative, and sitting behind a computer screen and trying to bring someone down just because you don’t like something. No, you don’t so be kind to everyone. You know those days where you are having a horrible day, and one act of kindness from a random stranger turns everything around. Be that stranger.
• Don’t stress
  I stress so bad that my hair falls out, everyday. I stress about money, and time, and my future. I need to forget about everything and just live for today. We will get a house eventually and it will be amazing, but I need to stop stressing about the money for it day in, and day out. Money makes the world go round, but it doesn’t have to make yours go round. I could honestly live in a 16 foot camper, and be happy as can be. I need to remember that stress has a negative impact on the people around me and a negative impact on my health, so stop stressing.
• Be who you are
  I’ve encountered a lot of people in my life who lie constantly, as if they are ashamed of who they are. Never be ashamed at who you are. I know a lot of people who are afraid that if put something out there about themselves, that it will not be received well. The people who truly love and care about you are not going to care, their opinion of you will not change, so say what you want to say. Let it out. I put myself out there every time I do one of these posts and I’m always scared as hell, but I do it. And if someone decides they don’t like me after it, then I don’t need them in my life anyways. Don’t be afraid to be you.
• Do what you love
  This is one of the ones I struggle at. If I was a millionaire, I’d be blogging, flipping houses, and saving animals. I’d be living on a small farm, where I’d drink wine on the porch in the mornings as the sun came up. (Breakfast of champions) But I am not a millionaire and never will be. However, the only thing on that list I’m doing now is blogging, but I’m doing it in an environment that I hate. (at my job & in my apartment) There is no quick or easy solution to these issues, it will all take time, but I need to take steps every day to make things better for myself. Spruce up that resume, put a little extra into savings, crack a bottle open at 6AM ;) Kiddinggg, maybe. I could sign up for a charity run to benefit animals, donate more to the puppy mills foundation then I already do. The list goes on and on, but one step in any of these directions, is the right step.
• De-clutter your life
  One thing that stresses me out and weighs me down is clutter. It suffocates me, so I need to get rid of it. De-clutter things whenever you can, I’m going to try to do this quarterly. There is no reason to hoard all of this junk, that you’re probably never going to use anyways, so donate it, pitch it, recycle it. Just get it out of the stress-zone.
• Be happy. Love, smile & laugh.
  Right now, be happy. Life is way too short to be anything but happy. The best moments in life are filled with laughter and they say cancer can be cured with laughter, so be silly and crack jokes. Smile at a stranger. And tell the most important people in your life that you love them.
  
• Life is an adventure, make it fun
  Take a break from everything, and go on a road trip. Go somewhere you’ve never been. Make a memory, they last a lifetime. Just go out there and live.
• Get rest, don’t burn out
  Just make sure you take you a break when you need it, you don’t want to burn out, or get yourself sick from just going & going. The best Sunday mornings I have is when we just lay in bed with the kitty, and laugh, catch up on our dvr shows and just relax.
• Get organized
  Being organized makes life sooo much easier. No more wasting 15 minutes looking for something, when it’s exactly where it should be. I actually figured out one way to get organized last night, I wrote down each day of the week (Mon – Fri) and put what chores I’d do that day, like laundry, vacuuming, dusting.. etc. So, as long as I do 1 – 2 chores a night, they won’t get overwhelming. Don’t let housework run your life, make it simple and easy, instead of piling everything into one day.
• Be healthy, but indulge sometimes
  Being healthy lets you enjoy life more. More energy to do so many more things. I’ll never forget when Dance Dance Revolution came out for the Xbox. I use to play that game every day after school and I was in the best shape of my life. I was on top of the world. Being healthy though is probably the hardest thing to do in my household, because we buy a lot of quick & processed meals, because we are always in a rush. I think I’m going to try to plan my meals out, pick up the ingredients I need, and actually cook. (If you just fell over from shock, my apologies.) Just remember though, if you’re eating healthy, you don’t have to skip dessert every single time. Indulge sometimes. Ice cream date nights are the best.
• Have goals, both big & small
  I think you always need to have something to strive for, even though you want to live in the moment. You still should have BIG goals, and then have small goals that will help you reach that big goal. I’ve always had goals in life, and I’m not going to stop now. You don’t want to just spin in circles in life, you want to move forward. So write down your goals, both big & small, and achieve them.

My apologies if this all sounded like a tacky hallmark card, but I’m hoping that you all get some kind of inspiration from this post, because it definitely worked for me. Or maybe I should just stop blogging nonsense. :-X By the way, While browsing “don’t sweat the small stuff” images, I found an amazing print shop here.
Linked up.

Posted on May 23, 2013 - 21 comments
 Filed Under: Goals & Dreams, Inspiration, My Life

& I’m back. I took a longer break from the blog then just the normal Labor Day break. If you follow me on Instagram, you probably already know why, but for those that don’t here is a little break-down of the events that took place. I have two rules while drinking: 1. No Vodka, 2. No Shots. I didn’t break just one of those rules, I broke both. If your name is Larry, I blame you. ;) Basically, I ended up drinking way too much, rupturing a blood vessel in my throat, and going to the emergency room at 2AM. Walked out at 6AM with plenty of fluids in me, and told to see a Gastroenterologist for acid reflux and a cardiologist for heart palpitations. So drinking too much vodka, was kind of a blessing in disguise, health-wise. I kept putting off the heart & acid-reflux thing, but the doctor gave me a kick in the pants that I needed. I did end up coming down with a sinus infection though, so the blog will probably be quiet for the rest of the week. But since I can’t post most of the pictures from the weekend for the weekend wrap-up because of their nature (besides the ones you’ve already seen on Instagram) here is a currently loving:

Sources: Jeremiah Weed, Big Bang Theory, New Girl, How I Met Your Mother, Chevy Truck, Logo Quiz, Scarf, Fall

1. Fall Season TV Shows – One of the best things about fall is the tv shows. All of my favorites are coming back this month, all in the same week and I couldn’t be more excited. HIMYM – September 24th, New Girl – September 25th & The Big Bang Theory – September 27th. If you don’t watch these shows already, I highly suggest that you do!
2. Jeremiah Weed – This stuff is pretty freaking tasty and it’s cheaper than Mike’s Hard Lemonade. It comes in three flavors… cola, tea and lemonade.
3. Logo Quiz App – I’ve been playing this game on my phone since I’ve been under the weather lately, and it’s pretty addicting and really makes you think. It gives you a bunch of company logos, and you have to type in who it’s for. I haven’t been able to beat any levels yet, but I’m getting there. Some of them are so challenging.
4. Chevy Silverado – As most of you many know, we’ve been looking for a truck since Travis’ car caught on fire a few weeks ago. Travis has his eye on one just like this one, and I’m hoping that he gets it. We’ve been riding around in his Mom’s Tahoe lately, and it’s so nice to have such a big vehicle.
5. Scarfs – I’ve never been a scarf person, but this year I’m all into them. I even have this exact scarf and I’m ready for the cold weather to come so I can bust it out.
6. Fall! – I am so anxious for the fall weather to come, and for the leaves to change. I’m completely over the summertime now, give me hoodie weather!

What are you loving lately?

Posted on May 23, 2013 - 28 comments
 Filed Under: Currently Lovin', My Life